Should the Sharks go on to win
the Stanley Cup this season, we may reflect on a 5-on-3 penalty kill as the
defining moment in the Sharks playoff run for years to come. That epic penalty
kill came in the 2nd period of the San Jose's game 2 match up with the Edmonton
Oilers on Monday night, and in turn sent a powerful message to both teams. The
Sharks mean business and they're out to prove that they can play with under
whatever situation the opposition throws at them.

Scott Hannan, Kyle
McLaren, Mark Smith and Vesa Toskala may also achieve hero status in San Jose
for their Herculean effort against the Oilers power play unit. Defending
against a 5-on-3 situation is tough enough, but having two of your defenders
break their sticks is a recipe for disaster.

The predicament started
when Patrick Rissmiller was whistled for interference at 13:01 of the 2nd
period and Josh Gorges followed him to the box for boarding Raffi Torres 19
seconds later. Edmonton had a two-man advantage for one minute and forty-two
seconds, but the Sharks started to dig themselves in deeper after both Smith
and Hannan broke their sticks early on.

Edmonton's power play unit
moved the puck well, but every time they tried to get off a shot, it was either
blocked by one of the three Sharks penalty-killers or rebuffed by Toskala.
Problem was, the Sharks couldn't clear the puck or get a stoppage. The Oilers
had the puck for an eternity inside the Sharks zone, but they couldn't get a
shot past Toskala. Hannan finally managed to dive on a loose puck and clear it
with a hand pass, allowing Rissmiller to step back on the ice.

"That's
one of the most amazing things I've ever seen on the ice," Toskala said. "I saw
like four pieces of sticks there, and that didn't help the situation. But we
got the kill. I guess we got a little lucky."

Edmonton regrouped and
mounted a charge that would pay dividends just after Gorges penalty had
expired. Sergei Samsonov poked a shot past Toskala, who was sitting on his
backside after getting knocked over in the crease. The sellout crowd still rose
to its feet after Samsonov scored to acknowledge the penalty kill.

"You should be able to get a tap-in when you get two guys with broken sticks
like that," Oilers defenseman Chris Pronger said. "They played it pretty well,
and we had some great chances point-blank. We needed a bit more patience."

Steve Staios would put the Sharks on the power play a
minute later after drawing an interference penalty. Inspired by the energy in
the air, the Sharks turned things up a notch on the ensuing power play, and
would counter with a Joe Thornton goal at 17:29.

Jonathan Cheechoo
started things off by separating Jarret Stoll and his stick after Stoll hooked
Cheechoo under the left arm pit. Patrick Marleau would find Cheechoo with a
diagonal pass across the slot setting up a scoring chance. The Sharks winger
tried to jam a shot past Dwayne Roloson, but the Oilers netminder made the
save. Wha he didn't do was control the rebound, which floated over to Thornton
on the opposite side of the ice.

Thornton deftly grabbed the rebound
and lifted the puck over a diving Roloson for the game winning tally.

"We're paying the price and producing the effort to win," Thornton said. "I
knew it was just a matter of time before I put one of my scoring chances in,
but that penalty-kill was a big factor in this game."

San Jose scored
a similar goal just 4:26 into the contest when Tom Preissing fired a shot past
Roloson after a wild scrum in front of the Edmonton net. Milan Michalek took a
couple whacks at the puck with bodies strewn across the crease, bouncing one
off the right post. That shot kicked out to Preissing in the slot, but the
Sharks defenseman ended the flurry with a shot that cleared all the carnage in
front of the net.

Michalek would play a role in a scary moment in the
2nd period after Torres lowered the boom on him with an open-ice hit away from
the puck at center ice. Michalek was down for the count for several minutes
before skating gingerly to the Sharks locker room. Torres was not penalized,
even though Michalek was no where near the puck.

Roloson turned in
another valiant effort, stopping 36 shots, but his teammates failed to deliver
the offense necessary to win. Edmonton only managed to put 25 shots on goal,
and spent the better part of the game in their own zone, much like during Game
1.

"By no means do we think we're out of it," Edmonton's Shawn Horcoff
said. "We thought we played a game that was deserving of a win. We felt like
the tide turned a little bit."

The Oilers will need to turn the tide a
lot if they intend on getting back into the series, which shifts to Rexall
Place on Wednesday night.

Notes:

Radek Dvorak was
scratched after suffering a knee injury in Game 1. Oilers head coach Craig
MacTavish indicated that Dvorak is likely done for the remainder of the series.
Alyn McCauley was also a scratch for San Jose because of his ailing knee. Grant
Stevenson got the nod again in McCauley's absence.

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